


A Better Sanctuary

by dancinbutterfly



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon, Canon-Typical Violence, Episode 1 AU, Episode: s01e06 Smells Like Teen Spirit, Gentle Kissing, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 11:17:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18364928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancinbutterfly/pseuds/dancinbutterfly
Summary: A collection of Roswell, NM tumblr fic. Perpetually complete and in progress.





	1. A Better Sanctuary In Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> A place to keep Malex things I write on tumblr because I don’t trust that site one bit. AO3 on the other hand is home.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex is used to waiting and longing so is it any wonder he wants to give Guerin everything good and soft.

Inspired by [this tumblr post by apositivelifeaffirmingway.](https://apositivelifeaffirmingway.tumblr.com/post/183484095429/can-we-appreciate-alexs-moves-for-one-moment-his) 

Alex knows how to wait. He’s patient. Senior year life is about to start and he’s not sure of a lot but he’s getting a better idea of who he is as a person defined by what he’s not mostly - not the son his father wanted, not built for a small town life, not from a loving family like his friends are, not willing to be bullied, absolutely not straight and definitely not willing to hide. In the last few months, he’s realized that for the first time his small world has expanded to include Michael Guerin and he wants. The thing about knowing the sort of thing you want and wanting something specific is that an abstraction is easy to live with. It’s a soft concept. You don’t have to come face to face with the reality of your desire and then walk away when it’s an ephemeral concept and there’s nothing ephemeral about Guerin.

But Alex is used to being denied. He’s the only (out, one in ten, probably more) queer kid in school. He’s used to holding on for things that feel like they’ll never come because he’s been waiting to follow his mom out of his nightmare of a house ever since she took off. So he knows how to wait for things that feel impossible. He has that skill.

He has been thinking about how he’ll savor his freedom since he was a little kid. He’s been imagining how he’ll knock Kyle down a peg for years. He’s only been really planning how he’ll touch Guerin for a few months but he has been thinking on it, considering the options. He goes through them when there’s no patrons at the UFO Emporium and when classes are boring and when his dad is lecturing him about being a true Manes man, again. There’s so many choices and wild and frantic or roughly and ready are fun to think about when he’s in the shower with his dick in his fist but when it’s really happening? Holy shit, really happening and Guerin has pulled off his shirt and he’s smiling and nervous and is saying “not with someone I’ve liked as much as I like you” and so sweet all Alex wants is to be good to him. He wants to be every cliche of tenderness he’s ever seen or read about and he wants Guerin to know that it’s because that is how he feels too, first and most.

That makes it harder to even begin. Alex studies Guerin’s lips and collarbones and neck and the fearful hope in his eyes, floored by the was Guerin just lets him stare for long second, before finally moving into his space.

Alex is still a little scared he’ll have a gay panic and run but instead he leans in and seems to relax. He did that before, when Alex told him he should stay in the shed. Guerin gives the impression he’s always on red alert and he’s privileged to help him unclench if only by millimeters. It makes Alex want to take him apart with ruthless gentleness so that he can rest.

So he tries to use the same care he’d give an unhatched birds egg when he takes Guerin’s face in his hands. He takes what he’s wanted for so long when he kisses him but he tries to give a better sanctuary back in exchange. Guerin is the first and most Alex has ever gotten that he truly wanted for himself. It’s the least he can do.


	2. Until You’re Resting Here With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wyatt Long’s bereved shooting takes place at the reunion instead of the Crashdown and it doesn’t hit its intended target. Canon AU

> littlecountrymouse: Yay! You're into Malex! Can I have "breathe" as a prompt with a happy ending? Get as angsty or smutty as you like otherwise though, lol, I know you :)

_All I can think with this is how the original theme song Here With Me by Dido (which CAM will use over a Malex climactic moment if she wants to bring the biggest dick energy of any remake ever) is literally the most Malex song since ever how they lyric **I can't breathe until you're resting here with me** from the chorus fits so well for them. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Brenden Fehr’s Michael going “Max, keys, now” that honestly feels kinda Lily-ish and Jason Behr’s huge puppy eyes that honestly remind me more of Vlamis than Nathan Parsons when Max says “You broke the ketchup when you fell. Please don’t tell anyone.” for literally hours and one of the biggest flaws of the pilot to me was that the shooting happened when Max and Liz were alone. So you get a very specific AU. Remember that you asked for this. _

One second the band is playing a Counting Crows cover and Alex is trying to ignore the fact that Michael is off putting his best moves on a girl they shared B lunch with in twelfth grade and the next, he’s back in Baghdad. At least that’s what his brain tells him as the pop of gunfire cuts through the air.

The thought crosses his mind to hit the deck but before he can throw himself down on his belly he’s already down and it hurt. Fuck. Fuck, it hurts, sharp and loud and angry at him, than the rest of world which is suddenly filled with screams and th thunder of running feet. It’s a different kind of pain from the jagged pain of sharpnel, more immediate and bigger. It’s his chest. It’s his lungs or heart or... he doesn’t know but the dark room his getting darker faster and he thinks maybe he’s dying. He survived three combat deployments only to die on the floor of high school gym and that’s just not right. 

He thinks he sees Michael hovering over him, terrified and heartbroken and that’s better. If he has to see something before he dies like this? Alex is glad it’s that face. 

~*~*~

The gym is emptying out as people flee from the shooter and honestly, Michael could give less than a shit because Alex is fucking dead in his arms. This is every nightmare he’s ever had and can’t do _anything_. 

“No, no, no, goddamn it, Manes. Don’t you do this to me. Don’t you fucking do this.” He looks frantically around for his brother and screams his name when doesn’t see him. 

Max appears at his side like a miracle a second later, looking shaky and breathless. “Jesus, Michael, he’s-“

“Don’t. Don’t say it. Just fix him.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes you can.”

“I can’t. Michael he’s gone.”

“It hasn’t been that long.” It feels like forever but when he drops his lips to Alex’s forehead his skin his still warm. This eternity has probably only taken thirty seconds. Maybe a minute tops. If this was happening in an ambulance or a hospital there’d already be heroic measures being taken. “Max, please. I can’t lose him.” He is begging and he doesn’t care. “What if it were Liz Ortecho?”

Max goes pale with shame and embarrassment but shoves him out of the way and grabs for Alex, ripping his shirt open and pressing his hand against the skin when the bullet tore through him. 

The lights in the now mostly empty building flicker as Isobel arrives at their side. Max’s had glows red against Alex’s pale skin before the electricity browns out completely. The moment the power dies Alex takes a deep, shuddering breath like diver coming up for air. Michael feels like he’s been released from the depths along with him and drops his head in sheer gratitude. 

“Michael, keys, now.” Isobel snaps, cutting through his relief as the only one of them with a functioning brain cell. He fishes them out and tosses them to her as she grabs Max and hauls him to his feet as sirens wail in the distance. “Handle it,”she orders, and drags Max away. 

Fuck it. Michael grabs a bowl of salsa off the refreshment table and dumps it on Alex’s chest. He blinks open his eyes, confused and scared, but there’s no time now. There’s just no time. 

“Say you fell or something. You knocked over the salsa when the gun went off.” He cradles Alex’s face because he’s alive and he can’t stop himself even if this destroys him. He’s alive and it’s the most beautiful thing Michael’s ever seen. “Don’t tell anyone, please. It’s not just my life at stake here.”

There’s a frozen moment where Michael thinks Alex is going to say no, call the sheriffs or the air force or something as those sirens get louder before he covers Michael’s hand on his face with his own and nods. Michael twists to catch his hand and pull it to his face, kisses Alex’s palm lightening quick, then jumps to his feet, and runs.

**Author's Note:**

> You can always find me ~~in the drift~~ as [dancinbutterfly](http://dancinbutterfly.tumblr.com) on tumblr where I'm taking asks, always, even though it may take me a million years to answer them.


End file.
